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Stu Ungar
Stu Ungar won the World Series of Poker Main Event three times, in 1980, 1981, and 1997, and his combination of extraordinary natural card-reading talent and a genuinely tragic personal life, including severe drug addiction that ultimately contributed to his death at 45, made him one of the most mythologized figures in poker history. His 1997 Main Event victory came after Ungar had spent years struggling with addiction and reportedly nearly broke, and his dramatic comeback to win a third championship after such a difficult personal decline remains one of the most celebrated redemption stories in the sport's history. Ungar's card-counting and gin rummy skills before his poker career were considered so exceptional that other professional gamblers reportedly refused to play against him, and his transition to poker built directly on that same extraordinary natural card-game aptitude. His combination of three Main Event championships, achieved amid a genuinely tragic personal struggle with addiction, and his legendary natural card-playing talent have made Ungar one of the most mythologized and frequently discussed figures in the entire history of professional poker.
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Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets across multiple different poker variants, reflecting a level of genre-spanning technical mastery that distinguished him from specialists who focused primarily on a single poker format like no-limit hold'em. Nicknamed "the Tiger Woods of Poker," Ivey's reputation for reading opponents and making unusually precise strategic decisions under pressure made him widely regarded within the professional poker community as the most technically skilled all-around player of his generation. Ivey's involvement in a highly publicized "edge sorting" controversy at casinos in London and Atlantic City, in which he won millions playing baccarat using a technique casinos argued constituted cheating, resulted in significant legal disputes and forfeited winnings, complicating his public reputation despite his poker-specific achievements remaining undisputed. His combination of genuine cross-variant technical mastery and his sustained championship success across multiple decades has made Ivey the player most frequently cited as the greatest all-around poker player of the modern tournament era.
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